Om Mani Padme Hum.
This was my late-night-realisation-that-I-hadn't-taken-a-photo save. 11:30pm. I rolled out of bed and picked up my camera with sleepy eyes, surveyed the darkened room for inspiration and quickly knew what it would be... the loveliest thing about being home - apart from being able to see your friends and family of course! - is having your favourite things around you. Travelling is so minimal, so spare, which is definitely one of it's joys but your home tells so many of your stories.
I could tell the stories about these two pieces. But it's almost that time again and my eyes are getting sleepy again and instead I want to share the Dalai Lama's translation of the infamous mantra. My own food for thought as I drift to sleep.
"It is very good to recite the mantra Om mani padme hum, but while you are doing it, you should be thinking on its meaning, for the meaning of the six syllables is great and vast …. The first, OM … symbolizes the practitioner’s impure body, speech, and mind; it also symbolizes the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha….The path is indicated by the next four syllables. MANI, meaning jewel, symbolizes the … altruistic intention to become enlightened, compassionate and loving….
The two syllables, PADME, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom….
Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by the final syllable HUM, which indicates indivisibility….
Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha…."
- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lamax
